Why You Still Don’t Own Your Music (Even If You Started a Label)

Casey Graham
Aug 5
5 min read

Just because you own the label doesn’t mean you own the music. Most new artists start personal labels and leave their masters hanging out to dry—undermonetized, underleveraged, and unprotected. Today, we’re fixing that.

I know the pride that comes with starting your own label—filing that LLC, dropping those first records, feeling like you’re finally in control. But it’s not about the paperwork—it’s about the power behind it. And if your music isn’t properly secured, your label isn’t protecting you. It’s just decorating your downfall.

This is for the artists who took the leap—set up the label—but still aren’t seeing the money, the leverage, or the protection they expected.

My goal is to help you realize that owning a label isn’t the finish line—it’s the foundation. And if you don’t acquire, secure, and leverage your rights, then all you did was build a brand around your weak company.

When I started my first music production company, I didn’t secure a thing. I was focused on chasing money, not building a real catalog.

That didn’t hit me until I tried getting sync placements. That’s when I realized how vulnerable I was—missing deals, losing leverage—because I had no real proof of ownership.

Sync forced me to get serious. I finally understood what it meant to treat my music like assets. That meant protecting it, attaching it to my company the right way, and setting it up to generate money, not just streams.

So let’s dig in.

Acquire the Rights

Most artists think that once they pay a producer or session musicians for their work, they own the rights to the track and performances. This is one of the biggest traps in the music industry. The truth is, you have to acquire the rights through a transfer on paper. If you're leasing beats, this doesn't apply to you.

I learned about this through registering my sound recordings for copyright, and I would always run across the question when registering, "if any claimant is not an author, you must include a transfer statement showing how the claimant obtained the copyright."

It hit me — who would not be an author? A Record company! How would they get the rights? A Contract!

So here's what you need to do!

Obtain work-for-hire agreements with all session musicians under your LLC
Obtain producer contracts for all producers under your LLC
Obtain split sheets or contracts, if applicable, for all writers under your LLC

Once you do this, you can successfully transfer all rights into your record company via the copyright registration. This is how you obtain your masters.

If you're still thinking you can do the poor man's copyright or use companies like DACR to cheaply secure your rights, just remember the postmaster is not the organization that established the rights, and neither is DACR. Your government is.

Secure the Rights

If you think that you've secured the rights by just having the contract signed, you're only halfway there. In a court of law, without government protection and their up to $150,000 insurance policy, you will have to prove your case flawlessly for actual losses vs a statutory minimum when the case isn't fully clear. I know this to be true because it simply isn't registered, and this is US code as well.

So here’s what you need to do!

Once you do this, your rights are fully secured under the company, separate from yourself. If someone willfully or innocently infringes on your works, damages will be awarded to the company. And if you infringe willfully or innocently on someone else's work, so long as those works are registered under your LLC, your company will be held liable for the damages, not you. That's the power of the LLC.

So far, we've covered acquiring and securing, but this next part is where most artists say 'screw it.' So stay with me." And side note: if you want to know how to do all of this with step-by-step guided help, grab my 60-day record label system, complete with my funding partners to build your personal record label.

Catalog & Leverage the rights

Most artists or new labels will not catalog all of the registrations they've just done. Copyright numbers, splits, and contracts will be lost and spread out everywhere. This causes your sync endeavors to go awry, and your publishing never gets done correctly. On top of that, you probably don't even have all of the versions to your final mixes that you need besides the main mix. But in order to keep all of that data in one place, you've got to do some cleanup work so you can leverage your ownership properly.

I used three main pieces of software to do this when I had a sync company and a publishing company. I used Infinite Catalog, Reprtoir, and Disco.ac. If you don't have the money, you can just use a spreadsheet, a hard drive, and a cloud drive to keep records.

So here’s what you need to do!

Obtain all mixes for your song. Every song!
Register all songs at your PRO, MLC, HFA, MRI, SoundExchange
Catalog the sounds with the copyright control number, Splits, mixes, and contracts.

Once you do this, your record label will be ready for battle. This is the maintenance it takes to run a label on the administration side.

If you’re thinking, can I get a manager to do this? Ye,s once you have the system set up you sure can. It’s not time to hire a manager or assistant to do this task if you need the help.

Here’s what you can do!

I challenge you to get your first producer contract signed, register the song or album for copyright, and start your own catalog system or purchase one—start with Disco.ac at least, and keep moving from there.

The goal is to truly understand what a fan base is and the types of people it contains. The real question isn't "should you do this?"—it's "how much longer can you afford NOT to before you lose track of everything?"

Now, if you need help with devising a strategy around this or anything else, join our group strategy calls every Monday night at 7 pm EST inside the Music Money Makers community. Click below to join

Don’t create a bigger headache

The truth is all of this is necessary if you don't want massive headaches later after you've fallen out with some people and lost contact, then do this! You think you have a headache from information overload now? Just wait until the "I can't remembers" come up, or "we never did that," or the "well, I need some money then" comes up!

Just wait I guarantee you. You don’t need perfect conditions. You just need to start with what you’ve got — and watch how far that can take you.

What’s it going to cost to keep doing it your way

If you don't properly acquire, secure, and catalog your rights, you're looking at three major costs:

Lost revenue from sync deals, publishing, and other monetization opportunities that require clear ownership documentation.
The constant stress and anxiety of knowing your music empire is built on shaky legal ground, waiting for conflicts to arise.
Either invest time upfront to do it right, or spend 10x that time fixing problems later—there's no middle ground.

At the End of the Day

If you're serious about protecting your music, it's time to take action. Not just registering an LLC, but actually securing your rights through the proper legal channels. Remember, in this industry, what you don't protect today becomes someone else's opportunity tomorrow.

Music Money Makers: If you make music, you should always make money. Log on to musicmoneymakeover.com, grab the 60-Day Record Label System complete with funding, join the Music Money Makers Community, grab the free stuff, and watch this next video right here! Peace!